WATCH: Project 2025 Leaks Reveal Trump Connection, While He Continues to Play Dumb | The Daily Show


Video Summary

Donald Trump denies knowledge of Project 2025, a policy blueprint from the Heritage Foundation aimed at transforming the government. Despite his denial, videos obtained by Documented and ProPublica show many Trump associates involved in the project. The videos outline plans to reshape the federal government and conceal their actions.


Project 2025 Leaks Reveal Trump Connection, While He Continues to Play Dumb | The Daily Show Transcript

  • 0:00 | If there’s one thing we all
    know about Donald Trump.
  • 0:02 | It’s that he’s
    not a policy guy.
  • 0:04 | He’s more of a boobs guy.
  • 0:07 | Or a, she’ll have a
    salad guy, or a babe,
  • 0:11 | I swear I have a
    latex allergy guy.
  • 0:14 | Definitely not a policy guy.
  • 0:16 | So, last year, the
    Heritage Foundation
  • 0:18 | put out a policy for him.
  • 0:20 | It’s called Project 2025.
  • 0:23 | And everyone’s
    talking about it.
  • 0:25 | It’s really having
    a brat summer.
  • 0:28 | It’s essentially a
    blueprint for transforming
  • 0:31 | the government from
    a neutral bureaucracy
  • 0:33 | to a conservative Death Star.
  • 0:35 | And I’m going to be honest,
    it’s very upsetting.
  • 0:38 | But the most upsetted
    was Donald Trump.
  • 0:41 | Well, Truth Social,
    Trump wrote, “I know
  • 0:43 | nothing about Project 2025.
  • 0:45 | I have no idea
    who’s behind it.”
  • 0:47 | They come up with this.
  • 0:48 | I don’t know what
    the hell it is.
  • 0:49 | It’s Project 25.
  • 0:51 | I don’t know anything about it.
  • 0:52 | I don’t want to know
    anything about it.
  • 0:55 | OK, now I’m suspicious,
    because the last time
  • 0:58 | Trump said, I don’t know
    anything about that,
  • 1:00 | he was talking about
    Stormy Daniels.
  • 1:02 | So, did Trump
    [BLEEP] Project 2025?
  • 1:07 | [APPLAUSE]
  • 1:15 | Trump has consistently
    said he doesn’t know
  • 1:17 | anything about Project 2025.
  • 1:20 | But that might be hard
    to believe after this.
  • 1:22 | This week, we
    got new evidence
  • 1:24 | of the connections between
    Trump and Project 2025.
  • 1:28 | Reporters for Documented
    and ProPublica
  • 1:30 | obtained 14 hours worth
    of private training videos
  • 1:34 | from the group, and many
    of the people in the videos
  • 1:37 | have worked for Donald Trump
    and remain close to him.
  • 1:40 | Hello, my name is Jeff Small.
  • 1:42 | I was a presidential appointee
    in the Trump administration.
  • 1:45 | I am a former political
    appointee in the Donald
  • 1:48 | J. Trump administration.
  • 1:49 | I served in the
    Trump administration.
  • 1:51 | Was on the Trump
    campaign team early on.
  • 1:54 | We stayed until
    the final hour.
  • 1:56 | Yes.
  • 1:57 | During the Trump
    administration,
  • 1:58 | I served as the Assistant
    Secretary for Public Affairs
  • 2:01 | at the Department of
    Homeland Security.
  • 2:07 | Are you sure that you were
    at the Department of Homeland
  • 2:10 | Security, and not the guy
    they brought in to throw
  • 2:13 | holy water on Giuliani?
  • 2:16 | [APPLAUSE]
  • 2:23 | ‘Cause you say you’re
    a Trump staffer,
  • 2:25 | but you look like
    the last thing
  • 2:27 | a Russian czar sees
    before he’s thrown
  • 2:29 | into the back of a carriage.
  • 2:31 | So, this guy worked in
    the Trump administration.
  • 2:35 | Can you imagine how often Mike
    Pence tried to confess to him?
  • 2:40 | Father, today I saw a pear
    and had impure thoughts.
  • 2:45 | The point is, 29
    out of 36 speakers
  • 2:49 | in these videos
    worked for Trump.
  • 2:51 | There is no way he
    doesn’t know who they are.
  • 2:54 | You think he wouldn’t remember
    meeting a guy who looks like ZZ
  • 2:57 | Top joined a monastery?
  • 2:59 | Anyone would remember
    meeting this guy.
  • 3:01 | You’re telling me he’s got
    a nickname for Joe Biden,
  • 3:04 | but not libertarian Gandalf?
  • 3:06 | Come on, I don’t think so.
  • 3:08 | Look, I want to get to
    the videos themselves.
  • 3:11 | These are internal
    training videos
  • 3:13 | for people who want to
    join a new Trump government
  • 3:15 | in the hopes of
    someday being kicked
  • 3:17 | off Dancing with the Stars.
  • 3:19 | But they won’t
    just hire anyone.
  • 3:22 | If you’ve been
    convicted of a crime,
  • 3:24 | you will not be serving
    in the federal government.
  • 3:27 | Crimes, such as fraud,
    embezzlement and tax evasion,
  • 3:32 | show a lack of moral character.
  • 3:37 | [CHEERING, APPLAUSE]
  • 3:45 | Yeah, we’d hate
    to have fraudsters
  • 3:47 | and tax evaders work for
    the Trump administration.
  • 3:51 | Go on.
  • 3:52 | To obtain employment
    in government,
  • 3:54 | it is not favorable if
    you have accumulated
  • 3:57 | debt and filed for bankruptcy.
  • 4:01 | You might want to run this
    up the chain to the boss,
  • 4:04 | because it’s starting
    to feel personal.
  • 4:07 | No tax evasion,
    no bankruptcies,
  • 4:09 | no weird hairstyles, no one who
    had a cameo in Home Alone 2,
  • 4:13 | and definitely,
    definitely nobody
  • 4:16 | who constantly brings up
    Hannibal Lecter like it’s
  • 4:18 | a real person.
  • 4:21 | But hiring standards
    aside, these videos
  • 4:24 | also delve into Project
    2025’s agenda and policies.
  • 4:28 | And for a party
    that’s recently been
  • 4:30 | fighting back against
    allegations that they’re weird,
  • 4:33 | this won’t help.
  • 4:35 | Hi, I’m Katie Sullivan.
  • 4:37 | I’m just a normal
    American woman.
  • 4:44 | Are you sure?
  • 4:47 | ‘Cause now that you
    said it, I’m wondering.
  • 4:50 | Hi, I’m just a normal American
    woman wearing normal woman’s
  • 4:55 | skin, as we normal women do.
  • 4:58 | OK, you were being normal.
  • 5:01 | I’m just a normal
    American woman.
  • 5:04 | But to the left, that
    makes me a cis gendered,
  • 5:08 | ethno imperialist birthing
    person with pronouns
  • 5:12 | she/her, whew.
  • 5:14 | Oh, my God.
  • 5:18 | Is every sentence
    going to be like this?
  • 5:20 | I’m sitting in a chair, or
    as the left would call it,
  • 5:24 | a quad leg-abled, upcycled,
    non-binary, wood-based
  • 5:27 | booty ally.
  • 5:30 | [APPLAUSE]
  • 5:37 | OK, got it, she
    doesn’t have pronouns,
  • 5:39 | but that’s all
    culture war stuff.
  • 5:41 | What about something
    less personal and more
  • 5:43 | policy, like climate change?
  • 5:45 | And remember, don’t
    make it weird.
  • 5:47 | Climate change
    allegedly, is everywhere.
  • 5:50 | This is an issue
    to pay attention
  • 5:52 | to, as it has infiltrated every
    part of the federal government.
  • 5:56 | Now, when I think
    of climate change,
  • 5:59 | I immediately think of
    population control, don’t you?
  • 6:05 | No.
  • 6:06 | No, I don’t.
  • 6:08 | No, I don’t think of
    population control
  • 6:10 | when I think of climate
    change, you weirdo.
  • 6:14 | I think of forest
    fires and Smokey
  • 6:15 | Bear and his tight
    little bear bod,
  • 6:17 | like a normal American woman.
  • 6:21 | So, what makes
    these videos clear,
  • 6:23 | is that Project
    2025 plans to remake
  • 6:26 | the entire federal
    government into an organ
  • 6:29 | of the conservative movement.
  • 6:30 | But because they know
    how unpopular that is,
  • 6:33 | they’re also teaching
    their recruits
  • 6:34 | how to keep it a secret.
  • 6:36 | What you probably want to
    do, is if you need to resolve
  • 6:38 | something, you’re probably
    better off going down
  • 6:41 | to the canteen, getting a cup
    of coffee, talking it through,
  • 6:44 | and making the decision, as
    opposed to sending him an email
  • 6:46 | and creating a thread
    that accountable.us
  • 6:50 | or one of those other groups
    is going to come back and seek.
  • 6:52 | And you’re going to
    have to explain why,
  • 6:54 | why you’re withholding it, and
    you’re going to fight in court.
  • 6:56 | It’s going to be
    a lot of expense.
  • 6:58 | It’s an email that’s better
    resolved with a meeting.
  • 7:00 | Hmm, yeah, yeah, gotcha.
  • 7:03 | No paper trail.
  • 7:04 | You’re recording this, right,
    sound, audio, we’re rolling?
  • 7:07 | Good, good, good, good.
  • 7:08 | By the way, this video might
    actually bring Project 2025
  • 7:12 | to a screeching halt, because
    I don’t care how badly you want
  • 7:15 | to ban abortion, if
    you have to physically
  • 7:18 | meet someone for coffee to do
    that, yech, [BLEEP] that, no.
  • 7:21 | No, let them have their rights.
  • 7:23 | Let them have it.
  • 7:25 | Now, again, there are
    23 of these videos.
  • 7:29 | And we’re not going to
    show them all to you.
  • 7:30 | But there is one more
    that we found exclusively.
  • 7:33 | And it was made for one
    particular government employee.
  • 7:37 | Hi, President Trump.
  • 7:38 | I’m Benson Winchester IV,
    Director of Project 2025.
  • 7:42 | I’m introducing myself, because
    obviously, we’ve never met.
  • 7:46 | You might be asking yourself,
    what’s my role in Project 2025?
  • 7:50 | And I’m here to tell you
    that as president, your role
  • 7:52 | is not to worry about it.
  • 7:54 | On the day you take
    your oath of office,
  • 7:56 | Project 2025 will
    get right to work,
  • 7:58 | so you can go back
    to the golf course.
  • 8:00 | You might hear some noise
    from the White House basement
  • 8:02 | while we install the IVF
    prisons and migrant fight pits,
  • 8:06 | but don’t worry, because we’re
    also installing a new pinball
  • 8:09 | machine in the Oval Office.
  • 8:12 | Oh, Elvira!
  • 8:13 | Win my pinball on that.
  • 8:15 | Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
  • 8:16 | While you have fun at state
    dinners and pardoning turkeys,
  • 8:19 | we’ll get to work demolishing
    the Department of Education,
  • 8:22 | the EPA, and the National
    Oceanic and
  • 8:24 | Atmospheric Administration.
  • 8:25 | The what?
  • 8:27 | Don’t worry your pretty
    little head about it.
  • 8:29 | Just sign on a few dotted lines
    and then it’s time for some TV.
  • 8:32 | Oh, Sean Hannity?
  • 8:34 | I wouldn’t mind
    pinballing that.
  • 8:36 | Bing, bing, bing,
    bing, bing, bing.
  • 8:38 | Now, you might have heard a
    ridiculous rumor that our plan
  • 8:40 | calls for banning pornography.
  • 8:42 | Well, rest assured, this
    will not apply to you.
  • 8:45 | In fact, as part
    of our plan, we’re
  • 8:47 | going to give all the porn
    that we confiscate to you.
  • 8:52 | Enjoy, big guy.
  • 8:53 | That about wraps it up.
  • 8:54 | If you have any
    questions, don’t ask them.
  • 8:56 | Just know that Project 2025
    is the future of America.
  • 9:00 | Isn’t that right, Alexi?
  • 9:02 | It is a future that
    can’t be stopped.
  • 9:05 | A future of blood
    and sword, a nation
  • 9:08 | stripped of its decadence
    while its people run screaming
  • 9:10 | to their doom, their children
    onto seven generations,
  • 9:14 | cursing our names,
    and the dark Messiah,
  • 9:16 | Trump, that brought about
    this glorious ecstasy.
  • 9:19 | Thanks, Alexi.
  • 9:21 | [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • 9:22 | [CHEERING, APPLAUSE]

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